Starry Night Dreams
Chapter 15
Grimmauld Place.
Yugi breathed a sigh of relief when he finally arrived at Grimmauld place. It had been some adventure gettting there with the Weasleys. Ginny was still in ecstatic fits of giggles. Ryou grinned happily and stared up at Grimmauld Place. It looked like a crumbling wreck from the outside. "Well, we mustn't stay out here long. Come on!" Mrs. Weasley ushered them towards the door. She knocked loudly. Mrs.Weasley waited impatiently, reaching hesitantly for the doorbell. Just then the door was swung open. Mrs.Weasley rushed them nervously inside and the door was locked behind them. "Hello Remus, what took you all so long to open the door?" The man named Remus smiled kindly. "Did I really take that long?" Remus turned on Yugi and they. Although he was about in his middle thirties, Remus Lupin's brown hair was streaked with gray and he seemed very tired. His clothes were also very battered. His brown eyes scanned them and he smiled at them. "Welcome to the Order of the Phoenix. I'm Remus Lupin."
"Yes, yes, you can do introductions in the kitchen." Mrs.Weasley rushed them again.
They entered the kitchen and Mrs.Weasley invited them to sit. "It's lunch time and you had a long trip. You must be starving."
"I'm Yugi Mutoh and these are my friends Ryou Bakura, Serenity Katsuya, and Malik Ishtar." Yugi said pointing at each of them in turn.
"Ginny dear," said Mrs.Weasley," go call Harry, Ron and Hermione." Ginny scuttled up from her seat to go call them.
"Malik…?" Yugi asked hesitantly. Malik was staring pensively at the table. "Huh? I'm fine." He forced a smile. Yugi smiled back encouragingly at him.
"Would you like some help Mrs.Weasley?" Ryou offered politely.
Mrs.Weasley smiled kindly at him. "Thank you dear, you can set the table. The dishes are over there."
Lupin rose from the table as well. "I'll help."
Ginny returned with Harry and they.
"Hey mates." Ron grinned at them.
"Yeah, hi." Harry said.
They all sat down at the table. "Hermione I thought you were going skiing with your parents?" Serenity asked.
Hermione nodded. "I was but I had to explain to them that some things are just more important. My friends needed me." She replied.
Yami Bakura chuckled. ((She sounds like an imitation Tea.)) Ryou giggled and blushed when everyone watched him. (You're funny Bakura.)
Just then a man with long black hair and gray eyes entered the kitchen humming a Christmas carol and swinging a bag of rats. Serenity's pretty green eyes lit up. "Sirius!" She exclaimed.
Sirius grinned at her. "Hi, I thought I heard you guys arrive. I'm Sirius Black. I thought you Defense Against the Dark Arts for a while. Recognize me?" he said.
//I thought he looked familiar.// Yami stated to Yugi. /I know!/ Yami Bakura narrowed his eyes.
((What is he doing here? Why is his name different? Ask him.))
(Alright.) Ryou agreed. He was just as curious. Hermione and Ginny got up to help Mrs.Weasley.
"So, uhhh…Sirius? Why is your name different?" Malik asked, staring at him with his lavender eyes. "And, why do you look different and how does Serenity know you?" Malik had his chin propped up on his palm studying Sirius.
Sirius let out a bark of laughter. "You ask a lot of questions for such an antagonist you know."
Malik smirked. Sirius sat down . "Well, I was in disguise while at Hogwarts because I'm a convicted felon. Of course I never did get a fair trial but whatever. Serenity overheard a conversation with me and Dumbledore one day when she came for her class and so she discovered the mysterious identity of Sirius Black."
Malik glared at Serenity. "And you couldn't even tell us all this?"
Serenity grinned sheepishly. "It was a secret. I counldn't betray Professor Dumbledore's trust could I?"
"Hmph…whatever." Malik replied. "Why did you get sent to jail and how did you escape? Azkaban is supposed to be almost impossible to escape from. At least that's what I read. Dementors guard it, right?" Malik's eyes were staring intensely at Sirius. Wanting to grasp every bit of knowledge he could get.
"They thought I had betrayed James and Lily. Harry's parents and that I had blown a muggle street apart. As for Azkakban, I knew I was innocent so the dementors couldn't affect me. One day I just transformed into my dog form and snuck out when they were going to feed me."
"So you're an animagus?" Malik asked. Yugi sweatdropped. 'What's with all the guestions?'
//Well aibou, maybe he's trying to distract his mind from thinking about his family.// Yugi nodded.
/You're right. That can be it./
"Yes, so was Harry's father, James. We turned ourselves into animagus in school so that we could keep Remus company when he transformed."
"Transformed?" Yugi asked.
Remus sighed and gave a tired smile. "Yes, I'm a werewolf."
"Really?" Serenity asked surprised.
"Wicked!" Yami Bakura said. (Hey! I never said you could change! Switch back!) Ryou lunged forward off balance and almost threw the plates he was carrying to the table on the floor. He caught his balance and rested them precariously on the edge. Ryou scowled. (Next time warn me!)
((Stop complaining!)) Yami Bakura snapped agitatedly.
Malik's lavender eyes darted to Lupin next. Yugi sweatdropped again. /Here come the questions./ Yami laughed. Ryou rolled his eyes. "No, shut up yami." He whispered to himself.
Hermione turned her eyes to him. "What's that Ryou?" Ryou blushed.
"Nothing, I didn't say anything."
"Lunch is ready." Mrs.Weasley announced.
"One more thing, Sirius why are you carrying around a bag of rats?" Serenity asked.
Sirius stared down at the bag. "Oh yeah. I was feeding Buckbeak. He's a hippogriff."
"What's that?" she asked.
Sirius laughed. It was that extremely barklike laughter of his. Serenity blushed slightly.
"It's a magical creature. I'll show you after lunch if you want."
"I'd like that."
"Can I see?" Malik asked.
"Sure, you can all see if you'll like." Sirius offered cheerfully.
Everyone sat down to eat. The conversations were light and friendly and there was much laughter. Malik was sitting quietly however. He had that pensive expression on his face again. As if he was in very deep thought.
"What is the Order going to do about helping my sister?" Malik asked calmly. "And Rishid."
Lupin and Sirius exchanged glances. Mrs.Weasley looked stern.
"Malik we assure you that Dumbledore and the Order are going to do everything they can to help your sister and brother. First we'll have to find out exactly what they want with them and where exactly they are keeping them. From what we've found out your step-brother Rishid may be under the influence of the imperius curse."
"So when will you guys find them? When they're dead?" Malik asked still in a strangely calm voice. ((Like the calm before a storm.)) Yami Bakura stated in Ryou's mind. (I know.)
"You have to understand, we can't act unless we know exactly what Voldemort is up to." Sirius explained. "There's that and the problem of where they're being kept."
"From what you've told me about being a convict it doesn't sound like if you act at all. What is it exactly that you do for The Order of the Phoenix?" Malik asked coldly.
"Malik…" Serenity said hesitantly. She could just sense him waiting to blow up. Sirius gave a bitter laugh. "Hey kid, don't take your anger out on me. If it wasn't for Dumbledore and his orders I would be out there risking my neck everyday. I hate this." Malik stared at the table a little guiltily.
"You still haven't really answered my question…but I'll let it go…for now." He turned his eyes back up to stare at them determinedly.
Yugi gave a sigh of relief. /Thank God he didn't blow up!/ Yami chuckled slightly. //I second that thought.// They finished dinner a little while after in silence. Yugi noticed that Harry was slightly withdrawn and sulky. /He must feel bad. For their father I mean./ Yami nodded. //Yes…//
"Malik isn't your birthday just now?" Ryou asked. Malik nodded indifferently. "Yeah, the 23rd, so what?" Ryou shrugged. "I was just asking."
"What will you do for your birthday?" Serenity asked. Malik shrugged.
"Pretty much nothing. I'll just pretend it's not my birthday. It isn't a very happy day for me. Although Ishizu and Rishid would always try their best to help me enjoy it." He replied.
"We should do something for it. And since it's so close to Christmas, we should have a sort of Christmas party and invite everyone!" Ginny suggested.
Malik gave her an irritated look. "Didn't you hear me say that I hate my birthday?" Ginny smiled at him. "I know and you also said that your brother and sister would try and make it fun for you, so that's what we're going to do. Can we Mum?" Ginny turned a pleading look to her mother. "Everyone can use some cheering up, it'll be good for us all." Mrs.Weasley hesitated for a while but then she gave in. "Alright then but I'll need help in preparing everything."
"It's a good way for them to meet the other members of the Order of the Phoenix as well." Lupin added quietly. Serenity smiled. "Yes, it sounds like fun!"
&&&
The next week, they spent cleaning and decorating Grimmauld place. Harry was still a bit silent but Sirius' spirits had lifted greatly with all the company. Then finally, Thursday, the 23rd, Malik's birthday arrived.
Malik groaned as sunlight began pouring into the room he was sharing with Ryou and Yugi. He turned in his bed but then finally surrendered and got up. 'It's my birthday.' Was his first thought. He ran his fingers through his hair and sighed.
"G'morning sunshine." Yami Bakura's malicious voice teased. "Happy Birthday. You have presents from Ishizu and Rishid by your bed. Serenity's bird thing brought them. "Here." Bakura tossed him a packet wrapped beautifully in blue and silver paper. "It's from me and Ryou and I actually helped choose it." Malik gave a genuine smile. "Thank you Bakura. Thank Ryou for me."
"Happy Birthday Malik!" Yugi's voice piped up as he jumped up from his bed. He pulled out a slightly large package from beneath his bed and gave it to Malik. "I hope you like it." Malik smiled again. "Thanks. Yugi. I know in Japan that you usually have to give presents instead right?" Yugi nodded. "Yeah but I sure wish it was the other way around." He said sheepishly. Malik laughed.
"Well open your gifts!" Yugi said excitedly. Malik sweatdropped. "You can help me open them if you want Yugi." Yugi grinned. "Really? Thanks!"
//Really aibou, where is your humility?// Yami asked smiling. /I lost it for a while but it'll be back later./ Yami sweatdropped at his hikari's response.
Yugi and Malik began tearing the paper off. It was Yugi's gift first. It was some sort of game that came with different books in which you could write any end you wanted to the story. "Thank you Yugi. It's great. Is it from your Grandfather's gameshop?" Malik asked.
"Yeah, he just put in a new order for games like these. They're getting really popular. I thought you might like one so I wrote him to send one for your birthday." They opened Ryou's gift next.
It was a gold bracelet with beautiful intricate carvings of a knight with a sword on it. Malik placed it on his hand to admire it. "It'll fit in nicely with my collection. It must have cost a fortune." Yami Bakura smirked. "Not really, but we did get a nice little discount." Malik and Yugi sweatdropped.
"I don't even want to know Bakura." Malik said good-naturedly. Malik reached for Ishizu's and Rishid's presents next. From Ishizu he got a very exquisite quill set with a large stash of different coloured ink and to his slight surprise a new jewel encrusted dagger. He placed it very far from Yami Bakura. From Rishid he received a book holder and an Egyptian fashioned diary.
After they all got ready to go down for breakfast. Malik added his new bracelet on his arm to complete his look and smirked at himself in the mirror. Also, as precaution he placed his dagger in his pocket. He couldn't trust Yami Bakura and knives at all. Before they could leave the room, there was a knock and Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny and the Weasley twins entered. "Happy Birthday Malik." They said. Malik seemed slightly taken aback. He blinked and then gave a slight smile. "Thank you."
"Here, we didn't know your birthday was coming up, so we just put up and bought you a gift last minute." Ginny said, handing him a neatly wrapped present. "
"And we thought, that we'd give you one of our skiving snackboxes. Free! You should feel honoured Malik, we threw in some other stuff we thought would be useful as well." Fred said grinning.
"We hope you'll help advertise now that you have some of our merchandise." George said.
Malik laughed. "Of course I will." Hermione pursed her lips and looked disapproving of this transaction. He sat on the floor and unwrapped his next present. There was box of chocolate frogs and other sweets from Hogsmeade. There was also a book entitled, The Ancient Egyptian's Impact on Modern British magic. Malik smiled again. "Thank you, it was nice of you." Even Hermione couldn't help but smile back at the troubled Egyptian.
"The book was Hermione's idea. She said you liked to read. Although I must confess you don't look the type." Ginny said. Malik laughed. "Yes, I love reading."
"Well, let's head to breakfast, shall we? Otherwise mum's voice will be yelling at us in no time." George said. They all filed out of the room and headed into the kitchen.
Mrs. Weasley smiled kindly at Malik. "Happy Birthday dear. I made you a special birthday breakfast." Malik squirmed uncomfortably. He wasn't accustom to such motherly types. They made him feel awkward. Although Ishizu always tended to try and act like his mother. "Thanks." He replied, returning the smile.
Lupin and Sirius were already in the kitchen but Serenity noticed a new girl. She had bright pink hair. It was if she was straight out of an anime. The girl turned and grinned at them. "Hi, I'm Tonks. My first name is really Nymphadora but it's hideous, ain't it?" Serenity giggled and introduced herself. "I'm Serenity Katsuya. That's Yugi, Ryou and Malik." Serenity pointed at each one in turn. Tonks grinned at Malik. "Happy Birthday." Malik repeated the word thanks for what seemed to be the millionth time that day. It was getting to be tiring. He received more birthday greetings from Sirius and Lupin and then they all sat at the table.
"Your party will start a little after lunchtime." Mrs.Weasley told Malik patting him on the shoulder and placing a heaping plate of bacon, ham and eggs on the table before Malik. She also placed a tray of toast with butter and marmalade and some blueberry muffins. Malik sweatdropped and gulped. 'Damn, just my luck. Meat.' He thought. He didn't know what to do, he felt badly having to tell her he didn't eat meat, when she had tried to make everything special for him. Yami Bakura was trying his best to hold back his derisive giggles. Yugi gave him a sympathetic expression and shrugged. Serenity wasn't paying much attention to have any input. She and Tonks had hit it off quite well.
"Umm…Mrs.Weasley, I'm sorry…but I don't really…eat…meat." Malik said finally. Mrs.Weasley gave a start. "Really now? Oh, well. Give your plate to me. I'll fix you something else." Malik refused. "It's alright. I'll eat everything except the meat." Malik picked up a muffin and started to munch on it.
"So why don't you like your birthday?" Ron asked Malik. Malik's face dropped. "I-my mother died giving birth to me. I don't see anything to celebrate." There was an uncomfortable silence.
"I'm sorry." Tonks finally said.
"You shouldn't look at it that way." Hermione piped up. "I'm sure your mother would have wanted you to enjoy your birthdays. Malik stared at her blankly. "Before I left Egypt when I was ten, I had never even known that birthdays were treated as special occasions. Actually I hadn't known much of anything."
"How could you not know that mate? By the way how old are you now?"
"Sixteen. You see, my father…he was a very strict man. He wouldn't have had it."
"Blimey. That must have sucked." Ron said. Ginny kicked him under the table. Malik shrugged.
He thought he had divulged enough information about his past.
"What happened to your father?" Fred asked.
Malik gave a bitter smirk. "He was murdered." Malik's face became rigid. "I don't really like talking about my past if it's alright." No one asked any more questions about his life after that.
Ginny, Hermione and Serenity spent the rest of the morning helping Mrs.Weasley in the kitchen. The rest of them went into the living room to talk.
Malik got out the game Yugi and Yami had given him and he and Yami began to play. Harry and Ron watched on from the sidelines, with Tonks cheering them on. Sirius and Lupin were having a very enlightening conversation with Yami Bakura.
"So this dark Lord, what's his name? Voledetart. What makes him so bad? I'm sure I've known worse people." Bakura was saying. Lupin smiled grimly. "I wish you did but the crimes that Lord Voldemort have committed are so heinous…they're terrible." Sirius was laughing at Bakura's pronounciation. "Haha…I have to remember to call him that if I ever come face to face with the bastard again." Bakura grinned dementedly. ((I like him.)) he told Ryou. Ryou rolled his eyes. (You would.) "
"You must be the other Bakura." Sirius said. "The other one is much more mild mannered and shy." Bakura nodded.
"Yes, my foolish hikari, Ryou. He's giving me the day."
"Your condition is most interesting." Lupin said.
Bakura raised an eyebrow. "You think so? Live in my life and this would seem more natural than honey." Sirius gave a bark of laughter. Lupin smiled at his old friend. It was a good thing, those two couldn't get out together. Now that would be chaos! Lord Voldemort would be hiding beneath his bedsheets.